Biography, Craft, Creative Labour: The Timeliness of Dai Vaughan's Portrait of an Invisible Man: The Working Life of Stewart McAllister, Film Editor

Abstract

Dai Vaughan's Portrait of an Invisible Man: The Working Life of Stewart McAllister, Film Editor has long been the type of book critics and historians ritually acknowledge as an important contribution without engaging in any sustained analysis of precisely why this is the case. This article argues that Portrait deserves to be revisited in the light of current debates about craft and creative labour in the film and television industries. There is an enormous amount of craft involved in film and television production, yet this has not yet been discussed in relation to the current resurgence of interest in craft more generally. The article also deploys Portrait to open up historical perspectives on the spate of recent work on creative labour in contemporary British film and television. It concludes with a comparison between McAllister's work and the editing of the most recently emergent category of British documentary – fixed-rig productions such as 24 Hours in A&E. Specific issues explored include: the analysis of film and television production processes in relation to historically contingent conceptions of art and craft; film and television technicians and autonomy; self-exploitation within British film and television production cultures characterised by a public service ethos; perspectives on the creative individuality of film and television technicians; and the transmission of craft skill within these contexts.